The conference, which will be held Feb. 19-23, is a comprehensive postgraduate course for pediatric cardiologists, neonatologists, surgeons, nurses, intensivists, anesthesiologists, sonographers, perfusionists, and all those involved in the care of neonates, children and young adults with cardiovascular disease.

Zaccagni, who joined UAB as a pediatric cardiac critical care medicine fellow in 2012, and subsequently as faculty in 2013, is one of eight finalists for the Outstanding Investigator Award for physicians. He will give an oral presentation on his research involving the use of acetaminophen to reduce lipid peroxidation in children undergoing CPB and its impact on post-CPB kidney injury.

Moellinger, a UAB alumna, is a finalist for the Nursing Scientist Award. She will present her research Postoperative Feeding Protocol Improves Outcomes After Arterial Switch Operation.

Other UAB instructors to present at Cardiology 2014 include Franco Diaz, M.D., pediatric critical care medicine fellow, and Joey Timpa, ECMO coordinator and cardiovascular perfusionist in perioperative services. Their poster presentations were selected from more than 150 abstracts submitted.

An estimated 625 students will participate in the commencement ceremony, and 745 students will graduate. The university’s highest degrees will be conferred on 79 students from 18 states and seven countries in the doctoral hooding ceremony.

Following hip fracture increases after a reduction in reimbursement rates for DXA scans led to fewer scans, a UAB physician joined other advocates and successfully lobbied to increase DXA scan reimbursements to better identify and reduce hip fractures.

Christopher S. Brown, Ph.D., former vice president of Research for the University of North Carolina System and director and primary investigator of the NASA/North Carolina Space Grant, tapped to grow UAB’s $500 million annual research portfolio.

For the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Human Rights Award celebration, Henry Panion III designed a showcase of Alabama artists and the legacy of the civil rights movement. Central to the production are selections and performing artists from guitarist Eric Essix’s new recording “This Train: The Gospel Sessions.”